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London office ditches 16 car parking spaces .. to make room for 70 bikes

Plans for 138 Cheapside refurbishment also include lockers and showers for cycle commuters

At the end of a week when the cyclist counter on the Embankment ticked over the half million-mark less than four months after it was installed, here’s more evidence of the rise of cycle commuting in London;  the owners of an office block in the heart of the City are ditching 16 car parking spaces and replacing them with space to park 70 bikes as well as installing shower facilities and lockers.

Details of the changes at Cheapside House, a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral and on the route of next month’s Mr Porter Nocturne, have been lodged with the City of London Corporation’s planning department and were spotted by capital blogger Ian Visits.

The office block was built in the late 1950s and, in common with many built during that period, had an underground car park, accessible by a ramp at the rear of the building, which currently has space for 21 cars.

Under the plans lodged with the Corporation of London, just five will remain – and the 16 spaces freed up will accommodate more than four times as many bikes as cars that were parked there previously, while also providing facilities for bike commuters to clean up and store their clothes after their journey in.

As Ian says, “That number alone gives you an idea of how much space is ‘wasted’ by car parking spaces.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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PRSboy | 6 years ago
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Its a shame there are not more incentives... our office owner recently refurbed the mens toilets, and I suggested they used one cubicle for a shower.  There is plenty of space and they are rarely used.  Didn't get anywhere.

Its a hilly 16 mile route to work, so I work up a sweat- I can only ride in on dress-down days!

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thereverent | 6 years ago
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New developments in the City of London are normaly car free apart from disabled parking, and have to provide cycle parking a facilities if they want planning permission granted.

This means with the speed that offices in the city being redevelpoed, lots of car parking spaces are going and being replaced with cycle parking.

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planni...

Page 140:

"1 [cyle parking] space per 125 m2 of gross floorspace (gross external area)"

Page 141:

"Developments in the City should be car-free except for designated Blue Badge spaces. Where other car parking is exceptionally provided it must not exceed London Plan’s standards."

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Metaphor | 6 years ago
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The Democratic Cyclists' Republic of Oxford welcomes this news.

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brooksby replied to Metaphor | 6 years ago
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Democratic Cyclists' Republic of Oxford wrote:

The Democratic Cyclists' Republic of Oxford welcomes this news.

Ah, but what does the Democratic Republic of Oxford Cyclists think about it?

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brooksby | 6 years ago
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OTOH a small block of flats was built behind my old offices: seven flats, condition on the planning permission that they couldn’t have any car parking. There wasn’t really anywhere the builders could have put car parking anyway. All that happened was that all the surrounding office car parks had to take steps to stop the new residents parking there “illegally”. I know: people move into flat with no car parking and are surprised to find they’ve got nowhere to park their cars (more than one of the flats had more than one car, going by the number of cars which appeared).

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crazy-legs | 6 years ago
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I still think there'd be a market for a "shop" that offered secure bike parking, showers, lockers, a workshop, cafe and a small stock of essential consumables. Ride to town, leave bike there, shower, change and then walk (or public transport, hire bike etc) the last little bit to the office. In the evening, reverse that, collect your safely stored (and perhaps cleaned/repaired) bike and ride home.

Used to work in a bike shop in town (many years ago, way before Boris Bikes, segregated lanes etc) and even back then I thought it would be viable. That said the fact that no-one has really done it makes me think I'm probably missing some fatal flaw in the plan somewhere.

Great to see companies and businesses taking this on directly though and it being publicised, hopefully many more companies will follow.

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jrg_uk replied to crazy-legs | 6 years ago
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crazy-legs wrote:

I still think there'd be a market for a "shop" that offered secure bike parking, showers, lockers, a workshop, cafe and a small stock of essential consumables. Ride to town, leave bike there, shower, change and then walk (or public transport, hire bike etc) the last little bit to the office. In the evening, reverse that, collect your safely stored (and perhaps cleaned/repaired) bike and ride home.

I’m sure I remember someone opening just one of those in London. https://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/piers-club-aims-to-take-the-sweat-out-of-cycle-commute-6364346.html is one still in business, but there was talk of others in these very news pages some time ago...

http://road.cc/content/news/161054-shower-parking-and-changing-facilities-34-cyclists-two-parking-spaces

Anyone seen anything come of that?

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ConcordeCX replied to jrg_uk | 6 years ago
1 like

jrg_uk wrote:

crazy-legs wrote:

I still think there'd be a market for a "shop" that offered secure bike parking, showers, lockers, a workshop, cafe and a small stock of essential consumables. Ride to town, leave bike there, shower, change and then walk (or public transport, hire bike etc) the last little bit to the office. In the evening, reverse that, collect your safely stored (and perhaps cleaned/repaired) bike and ride home.

I’m sure I remember someone opening just one of those in London. https://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/piers-club-aims-to-take-the-sweat-out-of-cycle-commute-6364346.html is one still in business, but there was talk of others in these very news pages some time ago...

http://road.cc/content/news/161054-shower-parking-and-changing-facilities-34-cyclists-two-parking-spaces

Anyone seen anything come of that?

I used H2 in Soho for a couple of months when our showers at work were being refurbished. It's a very good facility. I'd use it again if the need arose. They had planned to open something at London Wall, but I don't know what became of it.

 

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A V Lowe | 6 years ago
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IanVisits should be looking around a bit more - the Broadgate Group development on Bishopsgate has a condition that no car parking spaces are provided for the tenants, and a closely controlled regime for motor vehicle access & deliveries will be operated. As part of this a Brompton Hire uniot will be incorporated in the development - both for the tenants, and with public access to hire bikes.

This will join the 'Axa' unit that is just outside Kings Cross, and has such heavy demand, that users need to book in for a space to return a bike, as much as they need to make sure a bike will be in one of the 8 lockers to hire, as the unit often has over 8 bikes out on hire, and has to be 'refilled'.  HSBC has a 'private' unit at Canary Wharf for staff use, and a further unit is in Finsbury Square.

I understand that for most of these well used docks, the level of hires covers the operating costs, with the limiting factors being a site available at a sensible price, and the  costs of setting up the  unit to start the operation.  However the London examples how the opportunity presented by a significant, journey generating, development can deliver a local and focussed bike hire option.

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Edgeley replied to A V Lowe | 6 years ago
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It is quite usual for offices in the City to have very limited or no parking for cars, but to make an effort for cyclists.   After all, very few people are going to take a private car to work.

BT Centre next door, which is almost prehistoric by City building standards, and is going to be abandoned, has an underground carpark which is used by a couple of chauffeur driven cars, a few disabled employees and lots and lots of cyclists.  

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srchar replied to Edgeley | 6 years ago
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Edgeley wrote:

It is quite usual for offices in the City to have very limited or no parking for cars, but to make an effort for cyclists.

I wish this were true of my current place, Credit Agricole.  They have a waiting list for access to the bike racks stretching into months, despite the fact that they're always half-empty.  There are (not enough) showers, but nowhere to store kit.  And to think they used to sponsor a pro professional cycling team and the le Tour!

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thereverent replied to srchar | 6 years ago
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srchar wrote:

Edgeley wrote:

It is quite usual for offices in the City to have very limited or no parking for cars, but to make an effort for cyclists.

I wish this were true of my current place, Credit Agricole.  They have a waiting list for access to the bike racks stretching into months, despite the fact that they're always half-empty.  There are (not enough) showers, but nowhere to store kit.  And to think they used to sponsor a pro professional cycling team and the le Tour!

I use to work on the Broadgate Estate and the older parts had fairly poor cycle provision, the new ones much better. My old firm had covered a car parking space into bike racks and the disabled toliets doubled as showers. It wasn't bad, but when I moved to the newer part it had more showers, lockers and cycle parking spaces.

I attended the first (and I think only) Broadgate Estate cycle users group and people from Credit Agricole were complaining the sheffied stands had been put in to close together to get a bike either side. Sounds like not much has changed there.

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
6 likes

Fantastic news!  When the developers themselves start putting in cycle facilities, you'd better believe cycling has really arrived.

I'm confident that the light will dawn on our politicians within the next ten years, or even slightly sooner.

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